19 January 2010

Stolen from a friend who has such teasingly diverse interests as wine, classical music, and Sino-African relations, here is a site with some of the most beautiful photographs of modern American de-industrialization that I've ever seen.

Detroit's Central Station

Detroit's United Artists Theater

Cover Songs

Camera Obscura puts a new spin on the forgotten (by me) Springsteen song "Tougher Than the Rest." In making the lyrics a bit more appropriate for a girl to sing, the song looses some of its working class charm, but gains some melancholy and desperate undertones. [via Pitchfork]

Art in the Everyday
Aspiring film colorist Jeff Altman inherted "tens of thousands of feet" of 16mm film from his grandparents and instead of letting the footage rot away, he made a series of short films. He doesn't edit anything, he just adds music. They're strangely compelling. Here's San Francisco in 1958.

I get it, book stores and publishers are looking for gimmicky ways to get people to buy more books. And I also understand that people spend a lot of money on a lot of ridiculous things. But, gosh, will someone actually be crazy enough to put down $31K for signed, first edition, FIREPROOF, copies of "Fahrenheit 451" and "Firestarter?"
[via The Moment]

2. Apparently the dames at the event looked plumper than usual, according to The Moment's Andy Port. In a related story, Andy Port is blamed for the resurgence of at least 37 eating disorders. Get ready for sinewy arms and jutting hip bones at the Oscars.

3. Robert Downey, Jr. should write acceptance speeches for everyone.

4. The fashion world cried a bit when Carey Mulligan, clearly the most hypedyounggamine this year, showed up looking droopy and braless.

8. Someone should develop a technology where we can read a chosen live blog/twitter feed/whatever on our television screens during the broadcast. Because, yes, it was kind of annoying to keep refreshing the tweets and blogs on my iphone.